


Where You Need To Go

by c00kie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Eventual Romance, F/M, Hate to Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 00:10:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9046700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c00kie/pseuds/c00kie
Summary: The true story of Leslie Knope’s adventures at Hogwarts and her misadventures with Ben Wyatt.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bookworm03](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookworm03/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, bookworm03! You are a gorgeous, super fun person who makes my life so wonderful.  
> Thanks to Ash, because she's sexy.
> 
> And to everyone else, I hope you enjoy this! Kudos are great, comments are better!

Leslie was nervous. She didn't think she would be, having read Hogwarts a History twice, but the sight of the thestral drawn carriages as she and the other first years made their way across the lake in the boats gave her goosebumps. Then there's the massive man who lead them all inside the castle to be greeted by a woman who reminded Leslie of her mother, only older and all floating candles in the great hall and all the eyes staring at her, it almost felt like too much.

But she squared her shoulders and tried to listen to what houses her fellow first years were sent to until Professor McGonagall finally called her name and Leslie walked up the stairs to sit on the stool. She heard snickering coming from one of the tables and wondered why, did she have something on her back?

But then the hat was placed on her head and she heard a voice in her mind. "Ambitious, I see? You want to be the first female minister. Slytherin could help you there. Oh, but you crave knowledge, hmm..." It felt like the sorting hat took forever making a choice, but in reality it was only seconds before it cried out "Gryffindor!" and she was rushing to her new table. Her new home.

She wondered if her mom will be disappointed her only daughter didn't get into her house, Slytherin.

"Welcome to Gryffindor," said a boy wearing a prefect badge. "The best house in all of Hogwarts!"

"Yeah!" the table shouted, getting reprimanded by Professor Mcgonagall.

A beautiful girl sat next to her and smiled as the table gave her the same greeting. Leslie stared at her in awe, wondering if the girl was part veela. "I'm Leslie Knope."

"Ann Perkins," she said, smiling back at Leslie.

After the sorting, Headmaster Dumbledore gave a short speech, welcoming them all to yet another year at Hogwarts and to remind them the forbidden forest was still forbidden. After he sat down, food appeared on the table. Leslie stared wide eyed at the collection of foods; chicken, savory pies and puddings, potatoes, and- "Waffles!"

She grabbed five and put them on her plate. The only thing that could make this day more perfect is if there was whipped cream.

As if someone read her mind, a bowl of fresh whipped cream appeared before her.

They were  shown to the Gryffindor tower next, given the password, (Bumbleshorts) and the fat lady let them inside.

The common room took Leslie's breath away. All reds and golds and full of laughter from the students and warmth from the roaring fire.

"Wow," a girl said with a blonde ponytail next to her. Leslie echoed the sentiment.

"Okay, first years," the girl prefect said after a few minutes, getting their attention, "This way to the dorms." They're lead up a winding staircase to their rooms. Like the common room, it was also decorated with reds and golds. On Leslie's bed, her tortoiseshell cat Pancake stretched out her paws and went back to sleep.

Leslie scratched Pancake's ears and opened her trunk to take out a piece of parchment with her to do list.

She checked off everything except write home to mom. She would do that before she fell asleep Next, she took out her bag of treats from the cart.

"You're American, right?" Ann asked, taking a jelly slug when Leslie offers it to her.

"My parents are from here," Leslie replied, biting into a cauldron cake. "They moved to the states during the war."

"So why didn't you go to Illvermorny?" Diane asked, sitting on the bed, joined by Brandi. Pancake, annoyed, made a sound and jumped off the bed, falling asleep as soon as she landed on the floor. Leslie offered them her candy stash. Her mother told her not to spend all her galleons on treats from the trolley but it was not a promise Leslie could keep. She would ask for more galleons in her letter.

"My dad died last year so mom wanted to move back home."

"I'm sorry, Leslie," Ann said, taking Leslie's hand.

Leslie woke up the next day excited for the first day of classes. The other girls were still asleep so she made her way down to the common room and sat in one of the plush chairs and looked at her schedule again. She had Charms first, then Transfiguration and Potions. Her dad's favorite class was Herbology, her mother's Transfiguration, but it was History of Magic and Potions that excited Leslie the most.

After a few hours, Leslie was joined by her roommates and the other Gryffindors, all in various states of alertness and dress.

"Put on some robes, Dwyer."

Leslie tried not to giggle as Andy blushed and ran back up to the boy's dorms. Ann rolled her eyes and asked if Leslie was ready to go have breakfast.

"I was born ready," she said. "I hope they have waffles again."

They did, along with pancakes, eggs, sausages, crisp bacon, and toast with butter and jam. It's was paradise.

"Hey. You," a boy from the table behind her called out.

Leslie ignored it, sure that they were calling for someone else, when Andy said, "Hey, Leslie, Ben wants you."

Quickly, Leslie spun around, holding her waffle. A boy with messy brown hair and a crooked blue and silver tie sat directly behind her, looking at her as if she's some sort of curiosity.

"Hello." She had no idea why a boy from Ravenclaw, or any other house, would want to talk to her. And she's pretty sure he was not a first year either if Andy knew him.

"Hey," he said with a laugh. "You're awfully small. Are you even old enough to be at Hogwarts?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm just curious. I don't think you're actually old enough to go here. Someone should tell Dumbledore."

There were snickers of laughter from both tables, causing Leslie to turn red with fury. It only seemed to make the smirk on Ben's face grow.

"You jerk."

"Oh, you wound me, short stuff."

"I'll wound your face," Leslie said, about to reach for her wand so she could hex him, but Ann grabbed her by the back of her robes before she could.

"Hey, Wyatt," another Ravenclaw said, catching Ben's attention. "Leave the girl alone."

Ben shrugged, but turned around, going back to his breakfast.

Leslie turned, too. She wasn't going to let some jerk make her have a bad first day of school.

And it was truly was a great first day too. In Charms she learned how to make a feather float, in Transfiguration, she tried to turn a match into a needle, and in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Ealdwine lectured them in a thick Welsh accent about the dangers that, "Lurk all around."

"Yeah, but who cares," a boy with curly hair said, "You Know Who bit the dust."

"Ah yes, Mr. Jamm, but that does not mean that darkness doesn't exist, or that there aren't witches and wizards with ill intentions. Now, please open your books to chapter ten and we'll begin with the most dangerous creature of them all, the gnome."

Potions was, by far, her favorite class. Sure, it was in the cold dungeons and Professor Snape was kind of a jerk, but she used to love watching her dad's potions simmer on the cauldron, listening as he explained in detail what he was doing.

She was glad she read her Magical Draughts and Potions book, so she was able to answer Professor Snape correctly when he asked her where she can find a bezoar, receiving five points for Gryffindor.

When they were put into pairs to make their first potion, her hands shook with excitement as she and Ann gathered all the things they need to make their boil curing potion.

"You're good at this," Ann said as Leslie added in the porcupine quills, making Leslie flush.

"Thanks."

"My dad says that if I want to be a healer I need to make sure I'm good at potions."

"Oh, well. We can study together if you want."

Ann grinned. "That would be great, thanks."

Leslie grinned back. She's pretty sure she just found her best friend for life.

-

The month passed without too much incident. Sure, the jerk Ravenclaw Ben always said, "Good morning, short stuff," to her at breakfast, and she's pretty sure Professor Ealdwine is trying to bore them to death with her theories about gnomes and other harmless creatures. "They will uprise, I tell you. Uprise!"

Within the day, the students are shouting, "Uprise!" in the halls.

And she was also sorely disappointed in Professor Binn's teaching style, since History of Magic was quite a fascinating subject and no matter what she said, Ann didn’t believe her.

"This is so boring," Ann whined into her book. "I don't care about the Goblin Wars."

"But it's great. And important!"

"The Goblin Rebellion of 1612 is important?" Ann asked, with a raised eyebrows.

"Of course," Leslie replied, waving her hands emphatically. "Otherwise we're doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Besides, I need to know as much as I can if I'm going to the first female minister of magic."

Ben snorted at the table next to them. "You can't see over the podium. And you're wrong, by the way, the Goblin Rebellion of 1612 isn't important as the one in 1752."

Once again, Ann had to keep her from hexing him. "He isn't worth detention, Leslie."

Leslie huffed, but Ann's right. Ben wasn't worth detention. "Fine." She stuck her tongue at him though, only for him to make a goofy face back at her.  It made her feel rather funny inside, like there were fairies dancing in her stomach. She decided to ignore the feeling though, figuring it was just because she was hungry and went back to doing her homework. When she looked up again, Ben was gone and Madame Pince was glaring at her.

"I think Madame Pince is evil," Leslie whispered to Ann, only to get shushed by Madame Pince even though her voice was down. "See?"

-

A week later, Gryffindor played Ravenclaw in the first Quidditch match of the season. She held up the banner she stayed up all night making, cheering her house on.

_"Hope passes the quaffle to Anderson, Anderson passes the quaffle to Wyatt, Wyatt takes the quaffle-"_

"COME ON BEATERS, KNOCK HIM OFF HIS BROOM!”

"Miss Knope!"

Leslie sat down, red faced as Ravenclaw scored. "I mean, GO Gryffindor!"

Professor Mcgonagall just shook her head and they went back to watching the game.

Gryffindor ended up losing, 80-69, with Ravenclaw catching the snitch. Leslie hoped they could pull it together before they played Slytherin. She also hoped someone did knock Ben off his broom, especially when she saw him and the team walk into the great hall, all cocky and proud of themselves.

A Ravenclaw girl ran over and kissed Ben on the cheek. He smiled at her and Leslie watched as the girl started nodding quickly before running off to talk to her friends. It was annoying, to say the least, how one win made Ben think he was some sort of celebrity. How girls were now suddenly interested in him.

"Hey, short stuff," Ben said as he sat down in his usual spot behind her.

"Hey, turd boy."

"Turd boy?" Ben shook his head and laughed. "Okay."

Leslie couldn't even enjoy her waffles. Ben was a cocky, immature, annoying, jerkface jerk who- did he just ruffle her hair?

Leslie took off after Ben, clutching her wand in her hand. "Hey, turd boy!"

He stopped and turned around and she yelled out the first hex she could think of, the instant scalping hex, removing all Ben's hair.

"Thirty points from Gryffindor and detention, Miss Knope."

Leslie didn't stop glaring at Ben, who just stared back like he couldn't believe it. Well, he should believe it. He messed with the wrong witch.

They gave her detention in the worst place in the world, the library. Even the Forbidden Forest would be a much better punishment.

To make matters worse, Ben's hair grew right back.

But Leslie dealt with detention and the glares from some of her fellow Gryffindors, but she kept her head up and she practiced her spellwork with Ann and walked around Hogwart's grounds and wrote letters to her mom and did her best to avoid any more "incidences." Ben also seemed to avoid her. He never even said "Good Morning, Short Stuff" at breakfast anymore. /p>

-

Before Leslie knew it, it was Christmas and she was back on the train.

They spent Christmas eve with Leslie's aunt and her cousins. They were all younger than Leslie, so they wanted to know everything there was to know about Hogwarts and if Leslie could show them a spell. She couldn't because of the rule forbidding underage magic. It was the real pits too, because she really wanted to practice.

Instead she helped make cookies and sang carols and hugged relatives before she and Marlene went back to their small flat in London.

On Christmas day, Leslie and Marlene made breakfast (waffles, of course) and exchanged gifts. A beautiful blanket and some jewelry Leslie found in Diagon Alley for Marlene and a Nimbus 1700 for Leslie.

"Mom!"

"Well, you're going to need something if you're going to be seeker next year," Marlene said as Leslie threw her arms around her.

"Thank you, so much."

Leslie also got some quills and ink and fresh parchment and books on important witches in magical history. It's almost everything Leslie could wish for.

"I wish dad was here."

Marlene smiled, her eyes bright as she sipped her cocoa. "Me too. He really wanted to see you see you off at Kings Cross station."

Leslie stood up and plucked a picture of her dad off the mantle and went back to the couch. "Hi, dad."

"I wanted to stay you know," Marlene said as they watched Robert Knope dance around in the frame. "Join the Order and fight. But I was pregnant with you and your dad insisted we leave, to keep you safe. So we did. We fought tooth and nail about coming back, too. He never quite believed Voldemort had been defeated."

"Did you?"

Marlene shrugged. "I don't know. I hope so."

Leslie hugged herself. She hoped so, too.

"Now, tell me about this boy you hexed."

"Nothing," Leslie felt herself blushing though she wasn't sure why other than it was embarrassing to know her mother knew she hexed someone and got into trouble. "He's just some third year dumb turd."

Marlene laughed and took Robert's photo back to the mantle before she cast a quick spell to make the trash disappear. Leslie really couldn't wait to be able to use magic whenever she wanted, so she no longer had to clean her room by hand.

"Is he a bully?"

Leslie had to admit he wasn't. Ben was actually pretty nice to the other students. And her, sometimes. "No, but he's still a jerk know it all Ravenclaw."

"Ahhh," Marlene hummed and her eyes darted back to the photo of Robert. "I know all about them."

-

The first thing Leslie did when she arrived back at Hogwarts was take her new broom to the empty Quidditch pitch and practice. Her mom was right, she needed to practice if she was going to be seeker and kick the pants off of Ben Wyatt.

Okay so Leslie added the second part.

She liked flying, it was peaceful being up in the sky, cold air on her skin.  Except the peace quickly vanished when she heard a voice, Ben's voice, shout at her.

"Lean forward! No, no, up!"

Leslie didn't know why she was trying to take his advice, he was probably trying to kill her. But she found herself doing what he told her and it felt better. More stable, at least.

And then he was next to her on his own broom. "Wow, Nimbus," he said. "Impressive. But shouldn't you be on the kiddie model?"

"Haha, I get it. I'm short."

"No, Clementine Watergate is short. You're…" He trailed off like he couldn't think of what he was going to say. "You're something else, short stuff."

Leslie didn't know what to say to that. It didn't feel insulting, but it wasn't exactly a compliment either.

"So," Ben said after a minute. "Race?"

"I…" Leslie was just getting used to being on a broom. She wasn't sure if racing was such a good idea just yet

"Come on. It's good practice. It's how I learned."

Leslie decided to follow her dad's advice _"Follow your heart and you'll always get to where you need to go."_ and said, "Last one to the other goal is a Doxy egg!" and took off.


End file.
